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Jessica Kooiman Parker steps down at Longmont's Firehouse Art Center

Beryl Durazo gallery's new executive director

By Aimee Heckel

Staff Writer

Posted:
08/25/2016 07:31:03 PM MDT

Updated:
08/25/2016 07:42:58 PM MDT

Beryl Durazo, left, and Jessica Kooiman Parker, pose for a portrait at the Firehouse Art Center last week. Durazo will take over the executive director position at the Firehouse from Kooiman Parker, who will remain involved as a curator. (Matthew Jonas / Staff Photographer)

She helped the Longmont community art gallery grow up, from having a handful of exhibitions every six to eight weeks to presenting 19 shows last year featuring more than 200 artists, both local and national.

As executive director and curator for four and a half years, the Longmont woman nearly doubled the center's funding, surpassing a $100,000 budget.

She increased attendance by 20 percent.

She organized more than 100 art shows.

She added many programs, like the First Friday Film Night and the Artist in Residency program. She launched the Front Range Film Festival. The transformation of the Firehouse over the last few years has been dramatic.

"We went from maintaining a presence in the community and being a little community arts center to really being a leader," Kooiman Parker says. "It's been interesting to watch."

But on Sept. 1, she will step down from her leadership role to focus on her new baby. She is pregnant and expecting her first born next month.

In her place is a newcomer to the local arts scene, although not to the nonprofit world: Beryl Durazo.

Although she was steering the ship, Kooiman Parker underscores that the Firehouse's growth in the past year was a community effort. The center is mostly volunteer-run and its board contributed to many important evolutions, she says. She also sees the Firehouse's maturity as an extension of the entire downtown Longmont arts scene.

"A lot of things happened when I took over that changed the feel and vibe of downtown," Kooiman Parker says. "I certainly didn't do all this by myself. It's a community effort. I was someone willing to be on the hot seat to take the pressure of it, but the community really embraced me. Together we accomplished these things."

Kooiman Parker will be spending about one-third as much time at the Firehouse now, but she will remain the curator and designer. Her background is in fine arts and graphic design, so she says it's an appropriate fit. She will also do freelance curating and design work.

She hopes the focus on the art will allow her to put together even higher-quality exhibitions.

"When you're juggling so many things, it's hard to keep everything moving forward consistently," she says. "This will be great, because Beryl can focus on the ins-and-outs of the organization, and I can focus on the content that we're putting out."

Durazo, also of Longmont, comes from the Inn Between, where she worked as a development director. In that role, which she held for one year, she says she helped manage fundraising, marketing and volunteer management.

She has been working professionally in the nonprofit world for six years, she says. She previously served as an Americorps Vista member with an emphasis on fundraising for the Yuma Community Food Bank in Arizona. Her main focus was grant writing, and she says she raised about $300,000 in the first year.

She says she will complete the test to become a "certified fundraising executive" by January, and hopes to complete her bachelor of science in business management by next spring.

Durazo doesn't have previous involvement in local arts, but she says she did help the Yuma Youth Choir raise money to travel to Europe.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity to get back into artist-based programs," she says. "But what really got me interested in the Firehouse was their partnership in the community for arts programs for children."

She says she believes art programming is more important now than ever, as arts funding continues to be cut in the school systems.

"We're lucky to have a large arts community," she says. "I can't speak to that enough. Art is the foundation for any education. It's an important aspect to keep in our lives."

Durazo says she hopes to expand the Firehouse's position as a community hub.

"At the end of the day, Jessica has laid an excellent foundation and will do an excellent job curating and doing design for us," Durazo says. "I look forward to partnering with her and learning from her, while working with the Firehouse."

The Firehouse also offers a free program for children of migrant workers; a new poetry night; and children's Saturday art classes twice a month based on the exhibitions.

The Firehouse collaborates with about 30 different organizations throughout the year for different events and offerings.

Last week, the Firehouse opened its newest exhibition, "Fresh," an annual collaboration between local farms and artists.

"It's a new chapter, and that direction will come from Beryl and the board," Kooiman Parker says. "I'm hoping with my attention being solely on the exhibitions and design that they can get bigger and better and more inspiring."

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